[okc]

My experience (UK) is that landlords screw people over where they can - they want to make money but actually have a social responsibility for housing conditions. Most people I know live in horrible conditions for a little less rent or increasingly so more precarious and even less stable house shares. Maybe that's an English problem though.

The interesting question being posed in these threads is a lifestyle choice: ownership or flexibility, lay your roots down or remain agile.

If you have enough money to pick and choose that's great. Otherwise home ownership may be the only route out of a precarious and unstable existence.